Senya Ichiya
by Tabbi-Katt
Summary: She just wanted to talk to him for a second but he said that there'd be a thousand other nights. But maybe there wasn't that much time left.


_Senya Ichiya_

_A Thousand and One Nights_

All righty, starting off with a little bit of introduction here since my description sucked. Well, this is my second Tales of Legendia story and also my second one-shot (to be posted). The main point in writing it is to have a fanfic for the Jay and Grune pairing. Yes, there is one and if you don't like it, _leave now_! This happens to be my favourite pairing of the story and the only one I like, too. Don't ask, don't wonder, just read.

Now, on to a better story description. It starts off around the time when everyone returns to town after they failed to stop Shwartz (don't yell at me if I spell that wrong the entire time!) at the Bridge. I just take my own spin on a scene, to put it simply. I don't really know how this is gonna turn out cause I'm kind of making it up as I go along. So buckle up, keep hands in the vehicle at all times, and enjoy the ride!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Tales of Legendia or the song 'Senya Ichiya' (or 'A Thousand and One Nights') which is where the inspiration for this story came from.

Ooh! One last thing! There are SPOILERS! And I mean for the end. Not just the end, _THE_ end! Anyway, stop reading this stupid author's notes and read that darn story!

* * *

The sun had already set, earlier than it usually did. That was strange. But maybe it was just a trick of the clouds, covering the whole sky in a bleak grey that blended in with the sea.

_Looks like it's going to rain_, Jay thought, looking up to the sky.

He probably should have been paying attention to what his comrades were saying. But if there was one thing he had learned in the past couple of weeks it was this: they always discussed what had just happened, decide they would just have to wait until they figured something out, and Will would say that he'd inform them if he found out anything. Jay would promise the same thing but he was too busy now studying the sky.

"Jay?"

_It hasn't rained in a while, not since Chloe tried to confess her feelings to Senel._

"Uh, Jay?"

_Of course, _he _didn't get it. He's almost as thick-headed as Moses sometimes._

"Jay!"

_No, even that idiot probably would've figured something out. Maybe it has to do with how late Senel sleeps in._

"EARTH TO JJ!"

Jay looked down from the sky to Norma, who had just spoken. "Hmm?"

"Geez, JJ. Now's definitely not the time to be staring off into space," Norma complained. "'Sides, G-Girl was trying to ask you something, but you were too busy daydreaming to notice."

She probably would have gone on for a while longer if Shirley hadn't nudged her in the ribs as gently as possible with her elbow. Jay just glimpsed this, though, because he had turned to Grune, who had been patiently waiting with her hands behind her back and rocking from side to side on her feet.

He didn't say anything (truthfully, he was worried that no matter what he said, it would come out sounding rude), so Grune waited a little while before asking, "I was just wondering if I could talk to you for a second, Jay?" She shifted her weight to one foot and cocked her head to the left in that cute way she had when asking a question.

"Okay. Just me?"

"Mm-hmm." Grune nodded her head enthusiastically.

Norma and Moses started snickering for some reason and Jay stared at them with obvious annoyance. "What's wrong with you two all of a sudden?" he questioned.

"N-nothing!" Norma replied, trying to keep a straight face. It just looked like a goofy smile.

Jay was about to say something about how stupid she looked like that, but Moses cut him off before he barely started.

"Well, we'd better all get some sleep to start searchin' for that Swhartz babe again tomorrow. C'mon, Bubbles." And then he just left, with Norma tagging along.

_Wait, why is she leaving? She lives here._

Will sighed and muttered, "I'd better be heading back home too. Harriet is probably waiting up for me and preparing a speech to yell at me for being out so late."

"Elsa's probably wondering where I am, also," Chloe said. With a slight smile, she added, "That girl might cling to me once too often, but it is nice to be a role model for someone."

Senel watched the two walk their separate ways before looking down to Shirley. "I guess we'll head back too then. You can stay with me tonight, Shirley."

"All right." The Ferines girl walked a couple of steps forward and bowed her head slightly to Grune. "We'll help in any way we can tomorrow. I know we'll stop Swhartz next time."

Grune clasped her hands together. "Oh, that's so sweet of you to say. But you don't have to go to so much trouble for me."

Shirley looked up, slightly surprised. "But… we're your friends. Of course we'll help you." She smiled brightly and continued, "And once you get your memory back, you can tell us lots of stories that you remember, okay?"

Grune returned the smile and said softly, "Thank you."

Shirley nodded her head once before running after Senel, already walking away. She could be heard faintly joking, "Maybe if you go to bed early, you'll actually get up in the morning."

"Ha ha, very funny," was the sarcastic reply.

Now it was just Jay and Grune, alone. He was still trying to figure out what Moses and Norma had found so funny and almost didn't hear her say, "Come on, let's sit down." She started walking towards the patio table in front of the inn while Jay stood back for a while before, reluctantly, following.

As soon as he was sitting in the chair across from her, Grune, resting her head in her hands, asked briskly, "So, do you want to talk about anything?"

Jay gave her a funny look, which she smiled at. "Uh… you're the one that asked me to talk," he explained.

Grune thought this was funny somehow. "I know, I know," she laughed. "But it's so much easier to talk about what you want to really talk about when you're comfortable, not just at the start of a conversation."

She had a good point. It was a lot easier to talk about something important when you ease into a relaxed discussion than just get to the point right away. Jay sighed and said the first thing that came to mind.

"So, seems like it's going to rain soon."

Grune gazed up at the sky, head still in her hands. "Yes, it does, doesn't it?" she wondered. "I like it when the rain ends because it seems to clean up wherever it fell. It just wipes everything clean." She looked back to Jay and joked, "Maybe that's why I can't remember anything. I got stuck in the rain and it wiped away all my memories!"

Jay smiled, more out of sympathy than anything else. He wondered if he should say what he was thinking about saying. He decided that it wouldn't matter.

"…Grune?"

"Yeah?"

"Does… does it ever scare you thinking about how you can't remember anything from before we met you?"

Grune thought for a few seconds before replying cheerily enough, "Sometimes." A bit more serious, she added, "But I'm creating new memories now. Besides, I don't know if I really do want to remember anything now. Lately it just seems like they make you unhappy."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, you guys have all been so upset lately just by remembering. You just seem to remember all the bad stuff that's happened, more often than you remember all the happy things. Like how Senel keeps blaming himself for Stella's death. If he couldn't remember anything, he'd be happier, right? It all seems a little troublesome to me."

"Well…" Jay thought about how to explain this. "Well, sometimes memories do kind of get in the way, but without them, you wouldn't really know who you were and you would be constantly thinking over all the 'what ifs' in your head that you'd miss other things. You'd be confused and depressed all the time. But I guess you're an exception," he teased.

Grune giggled. "I guess you're right about that."

Neither one said anything for a long time. When they both finally thought of something to say, there was a small _plip_ sound of a drop of water hitting the table, soon followed by another.

"It's raining," Jay stated quietly. Standing up, he said, "We'd better go inside."

He had his hand resting on the doorknob, ready to go inside the inn, when he realized that Grune wasn't following him. He turned around and saw her twirling around the yard, arms held out like she was pretending to fly.

"What are doing?" Jay asked skeptically.

"Enjoying the rain!" Grune called back. She laughed full heartedly as the rain washed over her.

Jay could only stare at her for a while. Any normal person would run for shelter at the first sign of rain, but Grune _wanted_ to stay outside and spin around like you would expect a little kid to. But… that was the kind of thing that you expected her to do. It was all part of that loveable personality of hers.

Jay smiled at that thought but insisted seriously, "Grune, please come inside! You're going to get wet!"

"Too late! I'm already getting wet and enjoying the rainy night!"

"There'll be a thousand more nights like this. Just come inside and enjoy the rain some other time."

"Nope," Grune insisted. "If there's going to be a thousand more nights exactly like this, then I want to make the first one count!"

Some children in one of the rooms above had their window open and had started singing a song about rain. Grune started humming along with it, although not amazingly well since she didn't know the tune.

Jay stayed and waited for her. He didn't really mind, after all, he wasn't getting wet. He had a roof- well, part of a roof- over his head that stopped the rain from falling on him. Instead, the rain water slid off the roof and fell over the edge, right in front of him. It created a surreal effect as he watched Grune dance around, humming that little tune. This went on for only about thirty seconds or so though because Grune slipped on the wet grass and fell down. _Hard. _Jay cringed when she hit the ground. But she didn't act hurt. In fact, she laughed again and stayed where she was, lying on her back, facing the sky.

"Mm," she sighed. "The rain feels so nice."

Jay sighed too, but his was half in exasperation, half in relief that Grune wasn't hurt. She was the last person in the world that needed a good bump to the head.

He turned away averted his eyes from Grune when he realized he was staring at her again and focused all his attention on a tropical like tree with large leaves. He couldn't help glancing over to her though, just lying there, letting the rain splash off her face. How was it that whenever someone over the age of ten stayed out and played in the rain, it was considered childish but with Grune, it was something that made her… her?

Grune had her eyes closed. Rain felt nice when it was falling softly on your skin but not so much when it's falling in your eyes. But with your eyes closed, it was nice. Grune still hummed happily to herself, much better than the first time. The kids who were singing it didn't know the last verse though so they just sang the song over and over again in an attempt to remember.

_Remember…_

Rain suddenly diminished, then stopped altogether in half a second. But only around her face. Grune opened her eyes, questioning why the rain ended all of a sudden.

Jay was standing over her, holding a really big leaf over her.

"I didn't want you to get wet," he explained.

Grune blinked in slight surprise. Then she smiled and he returned the same smile. They were quiet again for a long time, the only sounds being the gentle patter of raindrops hitting the ground and those children singing.

Grune sighed and Jay knew that she was finally going to ask him whatever she had wanted to ask him because this was a different sigh, different from the usual blissful one she had. This was the sigh of someone about to say something important.

"Jay?"

"Yes?"

"Back at the Bridge, everyone else thought I might have been wrong about Swhartz being there but you knew I was right."

Jay winced slightly. "So, you remember that?"

"Well, of course I do!" Grune exclaimed. She folded her arms across her chest and continued in the same insulted tone, "I might not have my memory from a long time ago but I can at least remember something that happened less than an hour ago!"

He couldn't help but laugh a little at this. Grune was so happy go lucky and even her angry side was gentle in comparison to others. Actually, Grune was always gentle compared to every other person in the entire world.

"Anyway, you were saying…?"

"Mm-hmm," Grune nodded. "I was just kind of wondering… well…"

Her voice faded away and she turned her head to watch the rain bounce off the streets of Werites Beacon. Jay waited for her to start off from where she left but she didn't. He became impatient and repeated, somewhat impolitely, "Well…?"

Grune looked back to him with one of the saddest expressions he'd ever seen. "I know I'm not really that smart and boring because I can't remember anything. And I'm probably a pain to be around too and I could have gotten you all into a lot of trouble today because you came along with me when Shwartz is my own problem and just… would you all like me more if I was different? If I could actually remember something and be smart?"

Usually, Jay went over whatever he was going to say carefully in his head before actually saying them so then he knew that they were wise words. But the sentence, "Of course not, I love you just the way you are," came out of his mouth before he even realized he had thought about it.

Grune understood his words faster than he did. She sat up and looked him right in the eye. "You… you love me?" she whispered.

"No! I mean, I like you. But not in that way because we're friends and that'd just be weird. It'd be like… like Norma and Will liking each other or something. We're way too different, although you are a really nice person and people can't help but fall in love with you. But not me because we're just too different. You know?"

When Jay finally stopped to take a breath of air, Grune merely blinked a couple of times in confusion. Then she started to smile, which then turned into laughing. She laughed for such a long time that Jay, who was now very wet and very cold, want to drop the leaf from his hand so then Grune could also get very wet and very cold.

When she finally managed to suppress her laughter, Grune giggled, "Heh heh, you're cute when you get all flustered, Jay." She breathed in the fresh air before flopping back down on her back. She exhaled, "Ah, what kind of memories do I have to search for that will reach deep into my heart?"

"That was nice. Who said that?" asked Jay, assuming that what Grune had just said was a quote.

"Simple," Grune replied. "Me!"

The rain began to thin out and in less than a minute it ended altogether. Jay took the leaf away from her face while Grune sat up and whined, "Aw, it's over."

He dropped the leaf the ground and looked up to the now clearing sky. "Now it's my turn to head home."

"I'd better go in and get some sleep, too," she agreed. She stood up and placed her hand on his head. Jay noticed, with some disappointment, that Grune was at least eight inches taller than him. "We'll back up tomorrow with everybody else and wait for our thousand other nights, okay?" She smiled the kind of smile that was so bright that a person had to close their eyes, it was so full of warmth.

Jay stared up at her for a few seconds before nodding his head and trying to mirror her smile. "Right. Tomorrow we meet up and wait." He feared that the smile had come out awkward.

Grune took her hand away and walked towards the door of the inn. When she was just about to open the door, she looked over her shoulder and waved to him before going inside and closing the door behind her.

The children had either remembered that last verse and eventually gave up, because they weren't singing anymore.

_They have more than a thousand other nights together_, Jay thought. _Just like we do_.

But they didn't have a thousand other nights. Because a few days later, Grune died.

* * *

Tabby's Opinion: Yay, I'm DONE! Took me the whole freakin' day but I finished it. So, how'd you guys enjoy it? Fluffy enough for you romance fans? I wouldn't really know because I never really considered myself of one of those kinds of people that like all that lovey stuff. Although you probably wouldn't know that after reading my writing.

Well, what can I say? I guess I can start off with how JayxGrune became one of my favourite pairings of the Tales of series. I remember when someone first told me how there were hints of this pairing in the end and I just laughed. There was _no way_ that such a pairing actually existed. This person was just reading too much into one scene. But when I got to the 'oh, so important Bridge scene', I was like, "Oh my god, they were right!" And it became really obvious in the end. But even through the tears (yes, I was starting to cry), I couldn't help but go, "Awww! They're so cute together!"

I don't know why I felt compelled to write this. I was just looking up a translation for the lyrics to 'A Thousand and One Nights' and scenes just popped into my head. I ended up making a sweet story and decided to write it out at around 10:00 this morning, and it is now 12:25 AM. That's almost twelve hours of a difference! But I do have a life so I went and did other stuff, like going to the movies and stuff. Anyway, not important. The important thing is that you enjoyed this random little… thing and I hope you enjoy all the other Tales of Legendia one-shots I write, cause there will be a lot!

You know what's strange? 'A Thousand and One Nights' was my inspiration for this story but I ended up listening to 'Better Days' the whole way through. Weird, huh? If you want to know what the lyrics to 'A Thousand and One Nights', I'll save you the trouble and end off this author's note with the translation:

_I walk away from here, pondering which way to go_

_The sun is setting early, painting the clouds with its glow as it disappears_

_The children next to me are singing the same song for the third time_

_Unable to remember the words to end it, they repeat the last verse over and over_

_Your eyes whispered, "We don't need beginnings or endings"_

_What kind of memories do I have to search for that will reach deep into my heart?_

_The days that you said were too long seemed like a dream that lasted just one night_

_I can't believe that it us coming to an end, it is too early to wake up_

_Don't make the 1,000 nights disappear. I can't leave here just yet_

_I'm merely a silent Sheherezade who can't move anyone's heart_

_No matter how many nights pass, I can't talk about even one love_

_I couldn't even get used to warmth. Where did the bedtime story disappear to?_

_Don't make 1,000 nights disappear. I stand to walk a lonely path._

_I wanted to at least remember your gentle words,_

_Remember the 1,000 nights that disappeared in a single night…_


End file.
